The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), the apex body of the Muslims in India, has refused to toe the VHP-agenda. The executive committee that met in New Delhi on 21 January has rejected any proposal to talk to the VHP or any other self-proclaimed organization. It has, however, shown its preparedness to talk to the central government on the issue and has constituted a five member committee to take a decision in this respect. They include Maulana Nizamuddin, the AIMPLB secretary general, Yusuf H Muchala, Maulana Sajjad Nomani, Zafaryab Jilani and Syed Shahbuddin. Forty out of the total of forty-one members attended the meeting held at the India International Centre in New Delhi.

The AIMPLB has ruled out any talks with the VHP on the ground that no talks are possible with the people who are responsible for the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The Board has also demanded the government to deal sternly with the people responsible for the demolition and who are provocating the Muslim community to commit violence. The Board said that the announcement of the Dharm Sansad to start the construction of the temple after March next year poses a grave challenge to the central and the state governments.

The executive committee met in New Delhi to chalk out strategy in the face of the impending threats from the VHP to go ahead with its plans to start the construction of the temple from the next year. The VHP has announced that it will start construction of the temple irrespective of the court decision. A senior VHP functionary who is also looking after the construction activities of the proposed Ram temple has announced that the organization will take over the land of the Babri Masjid site forcibly.

The AIMPLB took note of these provocative statements in its meeting. The resolution adopted at the end of the meeting said that 'The atmosphere of communal amity is being vitiated by persistent and well orchestrated hate-campaign for political ends by anti-social and anti-national elements who are threatening to flagrantly violate the basic values and features of the Constitution.'

Maulana Nizamuddin, the secretary general of the board, at the end of the meet told MG that the government should rein in these elements and prepare an atmosphere conducive for talks.

The Board has categorically rejected the talks initiated by the Bajrang Dal chief and Faizabad MP Vinay Katiyar and said that these talks are bereft of any meaning and that there will be no talks with the people responsible for the martyrdom of the mosque.
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